Cosalt shareholders could be left with nothing in sale

Shareholders in David Ross’s oil services group Cosalt could be left
empty-handed if sales of the company’s operating businesses go ahead, it has
emerged.

David Ross owns a major stake in Cosalt and is chairman

By Jonathan Russell, Assistant City Editor

5:33PM GMT 10 Jan 2013

The company revealed it was in talks with third parties about selling Cosalt Offshore and Cosalt Workwear. However, it warned that even if the talks were successful “it is unlikely there would be any value attributable to shareholders due to the level of the group’s net indebtedness and pension scheme liabilities”.

Cosalt, which is chaired by the founder of Carphone Warehouse Mr Ross, has been struggling to find a solution to its financial problems.

At the end of last year, Cosalt reported debts had hit £17m. The loans, which are largely supplied by Mr Ross, were due to expire on December 31.

At the time, the company said: “Cosalt has been and remains in discussions with its lenders and also the trustees of the Group’s main defined benefit pension scheme with regard to a solution to the Group’s financial difficulties, and expects those discussions to continue in the New Year.”

Its pension deficit stands at around £9m. The company said it had been unable to agree a recovery plan for the deficit with the pension trustees.